Azerbaijan President Releases a Circular for Venue of Eurovision Song Contest 2012

The Azerbaijani president, İlham Aliev, released a circular letter for the Eurovision Song Contest 2012, which will be held in Azerbaijan next year. In this circular, Mr Aliev pinpointed his latest decisions for the venue. This includes the construction of an new arena.

Ilham Aliev, the president of Azerbaijan, signed a letter on 7th of July which was released later on. In that circular letter, Mr Aliev also gave an answer to the questions about the venue for the Eurovision Song to be held in Baku next year. Before releasing the letter, Mr Aliev said: "The latest decision I am taking concerns consideration of Article 109th of paragraph 32 of the Constitution of Azerbaijan Republic."

The articles of circular letter are:

• A Sport-Concert Complex in Baku, to be built in accordance with international modern standards
• The customer functions in the complex design and construction, arrangement and coordination and also in the process of construction of the complex’s work to be carried out by State Committee of Real Estate Matters of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

• Azerbaijan Republic State Committee for Property Issues:
1. …will co-ordinate the work with the Baku City Executive, for the creation of the complex with the choice of best land area and the reservation of this area;
2. …will deal with the companies who have an experience such in the appropriate area for the construction of the complex, is selected on the basis of interviews, so that the contract with the contractor will connect directly to the professional execution of this contract.

• The Council of Ministers of the Republic of Azerbaijan:
1. …is related to the financing the construction of the complex within a month;
2. …is related to everything no matter that the other solutions in this circular are written.

This circular pinpoints that a complex arena will be built in Baku, especially for the Eurovision Song Contest which will be held in Azerbaijan next year. The construction company will carry out construction issues to the State Committee for Property Issues of the Republic of Azerbaijan; the financing of the construction work was entrusted to the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Azerbaijan’s commitment.

On the road to… The Netherlands

Following Duncan Laurence's victory, the prepations for the 2020 Eurovision Song Contest are in full swing in the Netherlands. Whether you will attend as a visitor or watch it in front of the TV screen, a fantastic event is awating you.
Below we have gathered a collection of articles about the preparations, to keep you updated on what to expect.

Norway and Sweden will meet in the first semi-final, while Greece and Cyprus this year are in each their semi-final. Host country the Netherlands will be able to vote for their Belgian neighbours in the first semi-final. Today, the semi-final allocation draw took place. Read more

The EBU have announced that 41 countries will compete at the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 to be held next May in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. This is the same number of countries that appeared last year. Read more

Rotterdam has been selected as the host city of the 65th Eurovision Song Contest in May next year. The Netherlands have hosted the competition four times, but this will be the first time that the event has been hosted by Rotterdam. Read more

Potential host cities Rotterdam and Maastricht have just four days to provide additional information as part of their official bids to host Eurovision. We will soon find out which city will be hosting the contest in 2020. Read more